The ever-evolving cultural context

- In my international business class, I asked students to connect with their international student counterparts on virtual get to know you meetings. Later, I debriefed them about their first impressions and takeaways from the conversations. In one of these sessions, my student, Gigi, raised her hand and simultaneously blurted out, "Their Instagram posts are so extra!" Now being her senior by more than a few years, I had to ask for clarification. "By 'extra,' Gigi, do you mean extra large or there's extra number of pictures?" And she said, "No, no, no, neither. I mean extra curated, staged, fancy, and perfect." "Oh," I said, "I get it." Maybe in a culture that is formal and big on reputation and pride, this is the typical college students social media post. This sprung off an extra discussion between the US and international students who started comparing their concepts about private and public self across cultures. In the business world, it's more typical than not that we look up someone on LinkedIn to try and get a sense of their experience and their background. But in today's ever evolving workplace, it's crucial to discover more personal and meaningful contexts. I find the example of breaking bread or sharing a meal to be a very useful one. A study at Babson College staged a set of numerous experiments where negotiations happened in different contexts and they found that negotiations in which a meal was shared among a group, resulted in deals that made millions more dollars in profit than deals among groups that didn't eat together. Isn't that crazy? Ideally, it would be best if we had the opportunity to get to know new colleagues from different cultures face-to-face over meals or similar interactions. But what can we do when this is not practical or even possible? Ask yourself these questions as you begin a working relationship whether the situation is face-to-face or remote. What do you know about this culture? Do your homework. Read the latest news articles and be aware of current world events involving your new contact's world. Platforms such as GlobeSmart and Cultural Navigator provide fast studies. Organizations such as the United Nations provide country profile reports and reference materials for over 200 different countries. How can I communicate with respect in this culture? Now some languages use both a plural and singular tense and this usually indicates a preference for formality. Be sure to know if your written language should be more formal and even include titles. You can learn about these preferences on communication channels, such as emails, Slack, chat memos, and also determine if the cultural communication norm includes camera on, camera off, or simply conference calling. How can I flex my communication style? Some cultures are more private, formal, individualistic, or expressive than others. If you want to build trust and make initial interactions smooth, you'll need to adapt your personal preferences to the cultural norm. I discuss this in detail and give many examples in my Communicating Across Cultures Virtually LinkedIn learning course. Be sure to check it out. Both the setting and context in which workplace communication takes place are under constant change. So to avoid making false assumptions and conclusions, build on the skill of flexing to become a more effective communicator.